Repeatability of alert and flight initiation distance in king penguins: effects of colony, approach speed and weather

• Published in: Ethology
• Main Authors: Hammer, Tracey, L, Bize, Pierre, Saraux, Claire, Gineste, Benoit, Robin, Jean-Patrice, Groscolas, René, Viblanc, Vincent A
• Other Authors: Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, L'Institut polaire français Paul-Emile Victor (IPEV), Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche (M.E.N.E.S.R.)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: Aptenodytes patagonicus; personality; human disturbance; optimal escape decisions; predation risk; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Fid; King Penguins
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03538580; https://hal.science/hal-03538580/document; https://hal.science/hal-03538580/file/Hammer_2021_Ethology_Viblanc.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13264

International audience Alert Distance (AD) and Flight Initiation Distance (FID) are popular measures used to explore the reaction of prey to approaching predators, and thus the economics that underlie optimal escape strategies. AD likely mirrors the effort invested into vigilance, while FID provides an estimate of the perceived risk of an approaching threat. Although individual variation in AD and FID is influenced by environmental factors such as variation in predation pressure and human disturbance, the repeatabilities of these traits (especially AD), and therefore their designation as a personality trait, remain under investigated. Here, we studied the repeatability of AD, FID, and the decision to flee in a flightless, ground-breeding seabird, the king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus). A single experimenter approached three times over three consecutive days 47 incubating king penguins from two different colonies with varying human disturbance levels. We explored the effects of weather, time of day, and approach speed of the experimenter on these behaviors. Weather had an effect on all three behaviors. In warm, sunny weather AD increased, while in rainy, windy weather birds were more likely to flee yet waited longer before initiating flight. Faster approach speeds between AD and FID increased FID. Weather conditions and speed of approach affected repeatability estimates, highlighting the need to consider external sources of variation when refining such estimates. FID and the decision to flee were significantly and moderately repeatable (r = 0.26 and 0.57 respectively), while AD was not. There was no evidence of habituation or sensitization due to colony.